Coverings for surface portions of buildings, such as for windows or similar closed apertures or transparent surface portions of buildings, that can be displaced between a position where the covering covers the surface portion and a position where the surface portion is either partially or fully uncovered are known within the art. The coverings are in practice positioned on a suitable drive and guide system that allows the desired displacement of the covering and that is provided with drive means for effecting this displacement. The drive and guide system must necessarily be placed outside on the surface of a building and be driven by suitable means such as one or more electric motors. Such motors are typically located in the drive and guide system, i.e. outside the building and this can cause problems in practice, for instance when a motor has to be dismantled for repair or replacement.
Furthermore, known drive and guide systems displace the covering by drive means acting at a single point or at a single edge portion of a covering, for instance acting on the upper edge portion of a rectangular or quadratic covering. If the covering has sufficient rigidity this means of displacement of the covering may be satisfactory, but for a more light-weight and less rigid covering it may prove necessary to drive the covering at more than one locations for instance on the upper and lower edge portions of the covering.
There is hence a need for a drive mechanism and drive system for coverings that allow high flexibility as regards placement of the motor, e.g. by providing a drive and guide system placed outside a building to be driven by one or more motors inside the building and for a mechanism and system that allows driving of the covering at more points or portions of the covering simultaneously, even by means of a single drive motor.